You may recall my lust for Windy Hill's Paph. Maudiae 'Bankhouse' AM/AOS and my desire to purchase a Maudiae type for my collection. I found my Maudiae, in bud, from Bird's Botanicals. It's starting to look gorgeous, but the pouch needs to fill out more.It's Paph. Hsinying Makakun, but you would never know that from reading the tag. The tag reads: (Makuli - Curtisii) - Maudiae x Maudiae 'Napa Valley' HCC/AOS x sib. Got that? I was confused, too, so I went to the Internet. This is a very popular plant, I discovered, but everyone is selling it under the confusing tag.
A thread on the Slipper Orchid Forum clarified things for me. First, some orchid vendors from Asian countries use dashes to indicate a cross. Also, Paph. curtisii is now called Paph. superbiens var. curtisii. From there, John Marcotte of OrchidsCanada.com explains that the tag should read:
Paph. ((Makuli x superbiens var. curtisii) x Maudiae) x (Paph. Maudiae 'Napa Valley' HCC/AOS x sib.)
Marcotte clarifies further:
Makuli x superbiens var. curtisii =
Paph. Memoria Allegria Gutierrez
Paph. Memoria Allegria Gutierrez x Paph. Maudiae = Paph. Janet Kunkle
So, the pod parent is Paph. Janet Kunkle and the pollen parent is Paph. Maudiae 'Napa Valley' HCC/AOS x sib.
Finally, Janet Kunkle x Maudiae is registerd as Paph. Hsinying Majakun. Problem solved!
So, why does the tag creator insist on the Napa Valley word salad? I can think of a few reasons. First, by tagging the plant simply as Paph. Hsinying Majakun it fails to convey to the consumer that the awarded clone Paph. Maudiae 'Napa Valley' HCC/AOS is in the background. But how important is a 40-year-old HCC, and why not list the plant as: Paph. Janet Kunkle x Paph. Maudiae 'Napa Valley' HCC/AOS x sib? Maybe listing "Maudiae" twice on the tag reinforces the idea that consumers are getting a Maudiae type Paph?
In any case, I feel bad for Ching Hua (the originator of the cross) and Hsinying Majakun, so I'm making a second tag.
